Ilhan Omar and the Smoke Screen of Anti-Semitism

Some of the important points I try to make in this video include the recognition, not just from activists and socialists but from the new "progressives" in the Democratic Party and in particular the Democratic Socialists of America that now has some 50,000 members.

If we give it a minute's thought, those of us that look at these things with the big global picture in mind, the assault on Ilhan Omar and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is not what it appears to be, a concern on the part of the US ruling class over the rise of Anti-Semitism. As I explain, the US ruling class has no love for Jews and never has. Hitler spoke well of Henry Ford and how much of an inspiration he was.

The power in the Democratic Party is on board with this and according to reports there is a proposal being voted on today that will begin to link further anti-Semitism (hatred of Jews on the basis of their religion) with criticism of Zionism and the Apartheid state of Israel.

What this is, is the right wing power in the Democratic Party moving to silence or tame and crush the party's left wing, in particular the new wave of candidates that entered the party in the last election and they are using anti-Semitism to do it. This is the same approach being used in Britain in the right wing offensive against Corbyn and the re-emergence of the left in the Labor Party.

People like Omar and Ocasio-Cortez must recognize that there is no future in the Democratic Party, that this party will not and cannot serve the interests of the working class in the US. The section of the US bourgeois that finance and control this party will not undermine their own interests.  Ms Omar and Ocasiao Cortez, if they hold this view will end up on the wrong side of history.

The Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) must also recognize this reality if it wants to not sink further in to the quagmire of bourgeois politics. It is the largest socialist/left organization in the US and has the resources and opportunity to play a different role in the building of a genuine political alternative fort he working class in this country.

Another important step in the immediate term is that DSA should announce the formation of a public campaign to defend Ilhan Omar and condemn the phony claims of anti-Semitism. This will give DSA credibility among the left and class conscious workers.

Richard Mellor
Afscme Local 444, retired